Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

triplebyte.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 237 posts

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#191

Post by w0utert »

antt wrote: post #147
JudasGoatse wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, are you arguing that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did nothing but spin? Their companies are worth hundreds of billions of dollars decades later. If you think that's just an illusion then I hope you're smart enough to have someone else manage your money ... and possibly everything else in your life.

Gates broke the law and nearly destroyed his company. Had he been less well politically connected the appeal would have gone another way and we would have had at least three Microsofts today. Like I said, 'value' is a dangerous proposition to measure anyone by.

I think Bill Gates was brilliant leading Microsoft. I hated about everything Microsoft did, I hated their software, and to this day I hate their history of crushing alternatives/competitors that were much higher quality than whatever Microsoft was selling. They are a much better company today, but in the past Microsoft was really a bully of a company.

None of this speaks against Bill Gates being a genius making Microsoft as powerful and successful as it was and still is though, to the contrary. You may not have liked his style (I didn't), but he did a lot of things right. It's why 90% of business are more or less chained to the Windows platform to this day.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#192

Post by ido »

compiler-guy wrote: post #103
tardo99 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fine. It's not luck after college. Then how do you explain her string of failures at Yahoo? It starts being luck again at age 35?

Life is complicated. Being very smart is no guarantee of success. I’ve never claimed that she was infallible or perfect. Even Gary Kasparov, Genoa Auriemma, and the Golden State Warriors fall off their perch eventually. It doesn’t mean they aren’t damn good at what they do.

I think it's very likely nobody is "lying" (why would they?) and still get conflicting opinions. It's not always easy to get a faithful picture of somebody's character (especially not if that someone wants you to get a certain view of them).

I've had people I've casually (sometimes in a business context) interacted with on several occasions & gotten a very positive impression, only to late be told a lot of negatives from people who knew them better.

One guy in particular was praised by my boss (also his ex-boss at the time), confirming my positive impression & years later a coworker of mine who worked under that person had a very negative view of them...

There are several possibilities but I think the most likely is a combination of 1. people act differently in different contexts 2. the same person can be good at one position/time and bad at another 3. people are not always honest with you & especially if they're good at it can come across the way they wish.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#193

Post by antt »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #185
antt wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that she is a queen of self promotion. When she was talking about 140 hour work weeks she conveniently left out the fact she was paying someone else to do her domestic work [0]. Or that most of her days involved meetings, lunches and dinners. I am reminded of the story of Henry IV who stood barefoot in the snow for three days. And through the grace of God not getting frost bite. We have come so far when…

Are there a lot of successful people who don't outsource their domestic work? It is a norm to be expected, not something you "have to disclose".

>It is a norm to be expected, not something you "have to disclose".

Because it might be something worth mentioning before you start telling people to plan their bathroom breaks.

>Could you work 130 hours in a week?” The answer is yes, if you’re strategic about when you sleep, when you shower, and how often you go to the bathroom. [0]

Adding "Oh and by the by I have a nanny, gardener, chef and maid too." makes the advice seem a lot less relevant.

[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-marissa-mayer-interv...

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#194

Post by conradfr »

antt wrote: post #112
tardo99 wrote: post #5

The cult of personality around Marissa is just confusing to me.

> The cult of personality ~~around Marissa~~ is just confusing ~~to me~~. Lest we forget Elizabeth Holmes, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and for those old enough to remember Bill Gates in the 90s. If you're lucky you die before you start making terrible decisions. A quote from Napoleon that he supposedly said while in exile "Had I been hit by a canon ball on my entry into Moscow I would have been remembered as the greatest s…

I guess sociopaths can do no wrong except live too long.

But it would be the opposite for Bill Gates wouldn't it?

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#195

Post by hlurhhh »

ummonk wrote: post #181
hlurhhh wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote this somewhere else in this thread, but I like her because she's one of the few (current) 'well known' women in tech that's successful and stylish. She's exactly the kind of representation I need and want.

It certainly seems like her looks and stylishness are major factors in her popularity (especially when compared to a more accomplished woman like Lisa Su), but you think that is a good thing?

Absolutely - as I said elsewhere in this thread, I hate the typical tech uniform of jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies, but felt I wouldn't get taken seriously if I looked 'pretty'. Marissa made that ok for me.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#196

Post by hlurhhh »

JudasGoatse wrote: post #188
hlurhhh wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't feel bad for me, I'm twenty-something years old and having Marissa as my tech woman icon is just some fun. I'm sorry you don't like her, but the choices for role models as a woman in tech are limited. (And yeah I know about Hopper and Hamilton and Borg, the difference is that Mayer is a current kinda-household name and in Vogue, literally.) Also don't lump Marissa in with Elizabeth Holmes, Holmes could never be…

Maybe you'd find more role models if you didn't segregate by gender (that's sexist, after all). If you can only look up to people who share your genitalia then I think that's pretty limiting.

I don't think I'm asking for too much by wanting a woman in tech to look up to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it's not sexist dude, I just want some representation in my role models.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#197

Post by guatepeor1 »

If Mayer was never hired by Google, Google would have been just as big. It's a shame how rich these executive starlets like Sanderberg, Mayer etc become: their roles are completely dispensable, but their wealth suggests that they weren't.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#198

Post by stingraycharles »

guatepeor1 wrote: post #197

If Mayer was never hired by Google, Google would have been just as big. It's a shame how rich these executive starlets like Sanderberg, Mayer etc become: their roles are completely dispensable, but their wealth suggests that they weren't.

This is fairly subjective, since we do not know what would have happened without them. It’s easy to speculate, but if you find a way to accurately benchmark C-level performance, there is a whole lot of investors that want to talk with you.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#199

Post by ArcMex »

"Our final question: Why isn't everyone happy all the time? I don't know. Overall, I'm a pretty happy person, and one of my theories in life is that people fundamentally want to be happy. So, if you ever find a moment when you aren't happy, you should just wait. Something is likely to change in the scenario. Someone else will change what they're doing, or you'll get motivated to change what you're doing, so the situation will change overall for the better."

Sort of in a slump and I don't have anything smart to say but this made me feel a little better. I feel like I have far more ability than my company utilizes but I cannot quit because I need this job. I don't have the balls to start a company because I don't have a great idea. I just write code. So I will wait. Something will give eventually.

Post reply on HN